THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Yes, it's good to be back in
Jersey. Thank you for the warm welcome. (Applause.) I appreciate you
all coming. Mr. Chairman, thank you for your kind remarks.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, Mr. President!

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, well, last time I was in Jersey there was a
lot of heckling, as well. (Laughter.) Good heckling. I love you, too.
Thank you. Thanks for coming. Thank you for your enthusiasm. Thank
you for supporting the Republican Party.

Mr. Chairman, I am glad to come and help you raise money so that
you can achieve big things -- first of all, taking those New Jersey
houses in the November '07 election -- (applause) -- and laying the
groundwork for an important election in '08. It's important that a
Republican succeed me as President of the United States. (Applause.)
And I thank you for supporting those efforts. I want to thank all the
grassroots activists who are here.

One grassroots activist I've known for a long time is the senior
chairman of the county chairmen here in the state of New Jersey, George
Gilmore. He happens to be the chairman of the Ocean County Republican
Party. (Applause.) And I want to thank all the other county chairmen
who are here. And I want to thank all the people who put up the signs
and make the phone calls and do all the hard work, so that our
candidates know that they're supported when they're out there seeking
the vote.

I really appreciate you coming. I'm proud to be here with my
friend, Lew Eisenberg, former Republican National Committeeman from New
Jersey, and his wife, Judy. I thank Larry Bathgate, former finance
chairman for the Republican National Committee. I want to say thank you
to State Minority Leader Leonard Lance, and Alex DeCroce of the State
Senate for serving -- actually DeCroce is in the statehouse, and Lance
is in the Senate. And I appreciate them serving. And our job --
(applause) -- our job is to help you all become the majority leaders.
(Applause.) They've got a good chance to do it. The experts tell me
that with hard work, there's a good chance that the statehouse and the
state Senate become Republican. And I'm glad to be a part of helping,
and I want to thank you all for helping, as well.

I want to thank -- I want to thank you all for recognizing the fact
that you've got the B team in the Bush family. (Applause.) The A team
is across the river in New York City. Yes, that's Laura. She sends her
love. I will tell you this; I'm a lucky man, when I asked her to marry
me, and she said, yes. A lot of her friends aren't so sure she's so
lucky. (Laughter.) But I am pleased to report she's doing well. She's
a great First Lady, a great wife, and a great mom. (Applause.)

I believe you win elections by telling the people what you believe,
not necessarily what they want to hear. And here are the things that we
believe: We believe that the number one priority of this country is to
protect the people of the United States from further attack.
(Applause.) And that's why we believe in a strong national defense. We
believe in supporting those who are in the homeland defending this
country, and we believe those who are defending it overseas.

We believe that we ought to trust people to make the decisions on
how they run their lives, not trust the government. And the classic
case of whether we trust people or not is when it comes to cutting
taxes. If you believe in cutting taxes, it means you trust you to spend
your money better than the government can. (Applause.)

We believe you've got to trust in the values of our citizens. We
believe the role of government is to unleash the great compassion of
America, to help solve many of the problems that can only be solved
through love and decency and care. That's what we believe. We believe
that there is a role for government, but the primary role for government
is to empower our citizens to realize their God-given potential.

And if we campaign on that message, and if we stick to those
principles, and if we govern for what's right, not based upon the latest
Gallop Poll, we will continue to lead this country. (Applause.)

I want to talk about our security and our economy. We are a nation
at war. I wish I didn't have to say that, but that's the reality of the
world in which we live. Now, I understand there's some good, decent
people who disagree with that assessment. We're a country where people
are free to express their views. Some people don't believe we're in
war. I'm just not one of them. I believe that the role of the United
States government is to do everything we can to protect you from further
attack. (Applause.)

You were affected by the September the 11th attacks a lot. And so
was I. I vowed on that day that I would use all U.S. assets to do what
was necessary to protect the American people. We're fighting an enemy
that is cruel, an enemy that murders the innocent to achieve objectives.
These folks just aren't isolated, angry people; these are ideologues;
these are people that have got a set of beliefs. I would suggest that
people, if they're trying to figure out what these people believe and
their vision of the world, just remember what life was like under the
Taliban in Afghanistan -- particularly if you were a woman or a young
girl -- you had no rights, no freedoms. If you expressed your belief,
it was contrary to their view, you would be, at minimum, whipped in the
public square. These people are brutal. They have no conscience.

They do want to spread their vision as far and wide as possible.
They have a vision of establishing a califate. They hate the United
States of America and what we stand for. They hate many of our friends,
including Israel. The only way to deal with these people is to stay on
the offense, fight them overseas so we don't have to fight them here at
home. (Applause.)

And that's exactly what we've done. I vowed that this nation
wouldn't tire. I vowed that I would do everything I could to lead this
nation, to protect you. And since that fateful day that killed nearly
3,000 people, innocent people, this country has been on the offense. If
we find them overseas, we'll bring them to justice. (Applause.) We're
using everything in our power to get good intelligence. We reformed
homeland security. We're supporting those on the front line of securing
this country.

Oh, I know there's a big debate about how to deal with these folks.
I will just tell you my view. You can't ration [sic] with them. You
can't compromise with them. You can't hope for the best with them. You
must treat them as they are: cold-blooded killers, and bring them to
justice before they hurt us -- (applause.)

One of the lessons of September the 11th is we must confront
threats before they come home to hurt us; that when we see a threat, we
must deal with it -- not always with the military, necessarily, but
we've got to take threats seriously. We just can't hope that oceans
will protect us from these people. They have strategies to impose their
will. They want to cause enough harm to cause us to retreat in order
for them to be able to impose their vision. These folks found safe
haven and got help in Afghanistan. We gave them a chance to -- the
government to turn them over. They refused, and so we removed the
Taliban from power, and thereby removed the ability for al Qaeda to plot
and plan and attack again.

In Iraq we faced a threat. He was an enemy of America, a person
who had used weapons of mass destruction, and a person who was paying
Palestinian -- the family -- Palestinian families of suicide bombers, a
person who had harbored terrorists. I went to the United Nations, right
across the river here. I said to the world, we face a common threat.
The United Nations Security Council agreed. We told Saddam Hussein with
one voice, international voice, disarm or face serious consequences. It
was his choice to make. He defied the demands of the free world. I
made the decision that we would liberate the people of Iraq. Getting
rid of Saddam Hussein made the world a better place. (Applause.)

And now the question is, will our country help these two struggling
democracies succeed. See, the short-run strategy is to bring people to
justice, is to keep the pressure on. The long-term strategy is to
defeat their ideology with a more hopeful ideology. And that's the
ideology based upon liberty. Free societies are societies that best
answer the hopes and dreams of people.

In the short-term we'll keep the pressure on the enemy. In the
long-term we must confront the circumstances by which 19 people decided
to get on airplanes and kill nearly 3,000 people on a brutal attack on
the United States of America. And the stakes are high. You know, I
know that many people are deeply concerned about Iraq, and so am I. You
see the carnage on your TV screens and you wonder whether or not success
is possible. I want to remind you that there has been pretty startling
progress made in Iraq. After all, 12 million people went to the polls
and supported a modern-day constitution, and voted for a free
government, which stands in stark contrast to life under a brutal tyrant
who killed thousands of his own people.

And a knowing enemy realized there was being progress -- progress
was being made, and they want to stop it. Isn't it interesting, to
determine the mind-set of people who would want to stop the advance of a
free society? Those are people we need to take seriously in this world.

Many of the spectacular bombings you see are inspired and done by
al Qaeda. As General Petraeus said, public enemy number one in Iraq is
al Qaeda; public enemy number one in the United States of America is al
Qaeda. We must defeat al Qaeda there so we don't have to face them
here. (Applause.)

As you know, last fall, I made a decision about how we should
conduct our affairs in Iraq. I had to choose between allowing the
sectarian violence that was beginning to get out of hand to continue to
foster, or whether or not to put in more U.S. troops to try to quell
that sectarian violence, to give this young democracy and its leaders a
chance to make the decisions necessary for its society to move forward.

Now, I want to tell you -- I want to share why I made the decision
I made. I believe that if we allowed the sectarian violence to rage in
that young democracy, it could create chaos, not only in the capital,
but throughout the country. I was deeply concerned that chaos would
create a security vacuum into which radical extremist elements would
flow, many of which would have been fueled by outside forces. I was
concerned that the chaos could spill out into other countries and
destabilize governments. I was concerned that the message it would send
to a country like Iran was that the United States of America couldn't be
counted on. I was concerned that moderate people all throughout the
Middle East would say, the United States doesn't keep its word. I was
concerned that the enemy that wants to strike us again would be
emboldened and would find more recruits. I was concerned that the chaos
would be exactly what the enemy wants. And so I made a decision to put
more troops in, as opposed to retreat. (Applause.)

And I believe this: No matter what the opinions of people in
Washington may be, when we've got our troops in harm's way, they need
all the support, they need all the support they can get from the U.S.
government. (Applause.)

This is hard work, but it is necessary work for the security of
this country. What happens in Iraq matters to the security here at
home. And I understand how hard it is. But I'll tell you what, this is
an amazing country when we produce men and women who fully understand
the stakes of serving in the United States military in a time of danger.
I am constantly amazed that people raise their right hand to wear the
uniform of America, to do what is necessary to protect us. (Applause.)
And I am proud to be their Commander-in-Chief. (Applause.)

You know, I tell people that one of the startling aspects of my
presidency has been that one of my really best friends as President was
the Prime Minister of Japan, Prime Minister Koizumi. I find it
interesting -- he was such a good friend, remember we went down to
Elvis's place. (Laughter.) In Memphis. And we had a wonderful trip,
and by the way, his replacement, Prime Minister Abe is a good friend,
too.

Isn't it amazing that my dad and many of your relatives fought the
Japanese as a sworn enemy? Right there is one. Isn't that interesting
-- George H.W. Bush, young Navy fighter pilot, put his life on the line,
along with a lot of other good folks, to fight the Japanese in a really
bloody conflict. And some 60 years later, his son sits at the table
with the Prime Minister of the former enemy, talking about helping this
young democracy in Iraq survive, talking about making sure the leader of
North Korea doesn't get a nuclear weapon, talking about keeping the
peace. (Applause.)

Liberty has got the capacity to transform troubled regions into
peaceful regions. It has got the capacity to help enemies become
allies. In order to defeat the ideologues that murder the innocent to
achieve their objectives, there must be an alternative ideology
available, and we've got one for the world and it's called freedom.
(Applause.)

I firmly believe we'll succeed in doing the hard work if we do not
lose our nerve. I believe -- I firmly believe that the decisions I have
made not only will help secure this country from further attack, but
will lay the foundation of peace for generations to come. I don't want
it to be said, when the chaos were to spill out, and the nuclear arms
race may occur in the Middle East, that people will look back and say,
what happened to them in the year 2007? How come they couldn't see the
impending danger? I'm prepared to continue to lead this nation, and
will lead this nation, for the next 20 months, to make sure that we do
the hard work necessary to secure this country from attack. (Applause.)

Our foreign policy, though, is much more than just military action
and kinetic action in dealing with an enemy. Our foreign policy is one
based upon the premise and the principle, to whom much is given, much is
required. Today in the Rose Garden I talked about the great compassion
of our American citizens when I announced that we were going to double
our program to deal with HIV/AIDS on the continent of Africa.
(Applause.) You ask, why would you do that, Mr. President? And the
reason why it matters to help ease the suffering around the world is
what happens overseas matters to the security of the United States of
America. Where you find disease and hunger and poverty, you find
despair. And the danger is that despair could turn into extremism and
radicalism, to the point where people would be willing to come and kill
to achieve political objectives.

I am so proud of the United States of America. I don't know if you
know this or not, but three years ago 50,000 people were receiving
anti-retroviral drugs on the continent of Africa, thousands were dying
and a generation was in the process of being wiped out. And today,
because of your generosity, 1.1 million people receive anti-retroviral
drugs, and we intend to double that number. (Applause.) The soul of
America is enriched when we help those who need help. Whether it be
feeding the hungry, or fighting malaria, or dealing with HIV/AIDs, the
United States of America is in the lead. (Applause.)

And we're also the leader in the industrialized world when it comes
to economic growth. This economy of the United States of America is
strong. (Applause.) The unemployment rate is low; it's low in a state
like New Jersey. We're adding new jobs. Inflation is down. The
entrepreneurial spirit is strong. People are investing. People are
making a living in this country.

You know, it wouldn't necessarily have been that way -- you might
remember the short-term economic history of the United States. A
recession set in, in 2001. We had those terrorist attacks, which, of
course, you remember here in New Jersey, vividly remember, which
affected our economy. We had corporate scandals. We had a lot of
hurdles in the way of economic vitality. But I think I made a decision
that affected the economic future of the country when I worked with the
United States Congress to cut the taxes on everybody who paid taxes in
the United States. (Applause.)

The best way to keep this economy strong is to let you keep more of
your own money in your pocket. (Applause.) If you're interested in
small business growth, you let our small businesses keep money -- more
of the money they earn. (Applause.) If you want investment, you incent
investment by cutting the taxes on investment. (Applause.) If you want
a family to do well, you keep the child credit high. If you want to
make sure you get -- if you want marriage, you get rid of the marriage
penalty. In other words, if you want the American people to do better,
you cut the taxes, is what you do. (Applause.)

And that's exactly what we did. And now guess what's happening?
The rhetoric in Washington is beginning to shift, as you know, and the
Congress changed hands. And they submitted a budget up there.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: They submitted a new budget. And it's a throw back
to the old days. They said, we need more of your money, and therefore,
oh, we're just going to tax a few of you. But that's not the way it
works in Washington, D.C. You can't save their appetite for spending
your money. The bunch in power in Congress now wants to raise your
taxes as much as they possibly can because they think they can spend
your money better than you can.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: And that is why it's important for us to make sure
those tax cuts we passed are permanent. (Applause.)

Oh, I know, look, you'll hear the same tired rhetoric. Listen, we
got to balance the budget by raising your taxes. But we've shown it is
possible to balance the budget by keeping taxes low, keeping our economy
strong, and being wise about how we spend your money.

You might remember, a while ago, I said we're going to cut the
deficit in half over a period of time. Well, we did so quicker than
anticipated -- three years quicker. And now we've submitted a new
budget that shows how you can balance the budget by keeping taxes low,
within five years. And here's the logic, and here's the reason behind
such a philosophy: Low taxes encourages economic growth. Economic
growth, it turns out causes there to be more tax revenues coming into
the treasury. More tax revenues in the treasury means you have more
money to offset spending.

So when you're wise about spending and you keep taxes low, growing
the economy, so we've got the revenues to spend, you end up balancing
the budget. We've got plenty of money in Washington, D.C. We need more
money in your pockets so this economy continues to grow. (Applause.)

And I believe that if our candidates run on strong national defense
and strong security, and I believe if our candidates say, we trust you
to make your health care decisions, or we trust you to make rational
decisions for your family, and we trust you with your own money, we'll
keep the White House in 2008, that we can retake the statehouses across
the country, and we can retake -- retake the Congress. Our philosophy
is hopeful. Our philosophy is optimistic. And we have shown over this
last six years, our philosophy works, for the good of the American
people. (Applause.)

So that's what I've come to share with you. I hope out of this
talk, you get a sense for my optimism about America's future.
(Applause.) I believe there is no problem we can't solve when we put
our mind to it. I believe that we are a country of determined, fine
people, who are willing to do the hard work necessary to grow this
economy and, at the same time, protect our country. I believe there are
better days ahead for the American people.

I am proud to lead you. I am proud you're here. May God bless you
all. (Applause.)